Maintenance & coolant leaks
Asked by Alexander Mar 20, 2018 at 07:10 PM about the 1999 Subaru Legacy 30th Anniversary Sedan AWD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 1999 legacy gt limited and im having some
real bad coolant leaks on the passenger side of the
car that is over the exhaust and now today it has
been worse then ever. What can it be please help.
7 Answers
Leaks on Passenger side? is the coolant/reservoir/watertank. located under the hood on passenger side?
sort of like this but not same color https://www.ebay.com/itm/ENGINE-COOLANT-RADIATOR-OVERFLOW-RESERVOIR-TANK-GOLD-IMPREZA-WRX-STI-LEGACY/121125518208?hash=item1c33a4bb80:g:L6YAAOSwh1haD0D6&vxp=mtr
also look at the radiator while car is running. look along the side where it looks like metal clamps down on plastic. like a spine on a book. do you see small waters leaking
The reservoir, coolant, and watertank are located on the driver side of the car
im sorry i do not know then. was thinking reservoir had crack under it
TheSubaruGuruBoston answered 6 years ago
David, it's nice to see new blood on the forum, but PLEASE leave Subaru issues to the pro wrenches who are on board, so as to reduce noise and errant info. Thanks.
TheSubaruGuruBoston answered 6 years ago
Alexander, your GT shares the same fragile first-gen DOHC 2.5i that Subaru used in the 1996-1999 era. These motors' heads are over-drilled and have all suffered catastrophic head gasket breaches. So the odds are overwhelming that you've blown the right side HG. Except: the symptoms of such are almost always overheating, first at speed, and eventually during all running. A simple bleeding head indicates more probably an atmospheric (rather than high pressure percolation) HG leak. Nonetheless, there is NO repair short of replacing both HGs to solve the problem. But DO NOTE that if the block has ever been overheated...either from a Mt Vesuvius-like event or chronic percolation...a pricey head gasket replacement ($1.5k) will NOT be successful longterm, as eventually the great majority of these early DOHC 2.5i then blew rods on the highway. So my suggestion is to back away from spending money on this old fragile motor. You CAN swap in a non-GT old 2.2i, but you'll be annoyed at its lack of power, oil leaks, and having to swap out the SCM and maybe exhaust and harness crap too. She's 19 years old: say goodbye.